UK's first active male professional footballer to come out publicly as gay

[Deleted member 77198]

In the 2020s I don’t see why people need to “come out”. Being gay is as normal as being straight these days. If one of my mates “came out” to me I’d probably say something like “oh right, nice one, see the footy last night?”

Who gives a shit who people are attracted to? It’s nobody’s business but their own.

 

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

Do we think he actually is gay, or just fed up of the media being full of shit about the quadruple? Well done either way.

 

[Lauz9888]

Shouldn't need courage, this, but it undoubtedly does.

I wish him all the best, and I hope he's paved the way, both for any existing footballers who are gay and feel pressured to keep it a secret, and also for boys and men who feel like football isn't for them because of their sexuality.

The men's game is painfully behind the women's in this.

 

[Nellies left peg]

He is the first in a long time so kudos to him. Hopefully soon, any athlete will be able to be open about their sexuality without any problem at all.

I would like to think you're right but the minority of football fans are real pricks. Any other sport it would not be a problem look at Tom Daley And Gareth Thomas

 

[Tourist since 1971]

Pretty shameful it takes an announcement by a 17 year old boy to end this sad pretence. Football should be incredibly grateful to him and hopefully the whole thing becomes shown as the irrelevance it really ir.

 

[york away to this!]

Great news that finally someone has done this, well done!
Astonishing that he's the first pro footy lad to state his sexuality in this way and it's 2022 FFS. About time.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

In the 2020s I don’t see why people need to “come out”. Being gay is as normal as being straight these days. If one of my mates “came out” to me I’d probably say something like “oh right, nice one, see the footy last night?”

Who gives a shit who people are attracted to? It’s nobody’s business but their own.

It’s a pretty big deal to the comer outer though. They don’t know if they’ll be accepted by their own family and friends.

 

[hammocity]

If players don’t want to come out they shouldn’t be pressured into it by the LGBT community some of whom are getting paid to promote the cause. Fashnu’s daughter said she’s trying to get players to come out, it’s fuck all to do with her.

They just may not be comfortable and it’s no business of anyone else.

 

[Lauz9888]

In the 2020s I don’t see why people need to “come out”. Being gay is as normal as being straight these days. If one of my mates “came out” to me I’d probably say something like “oh right, nice one, see the footy last night?”

Who gives a shit who people are attracted to? It’s nobody’s business but their own.

In most areas of life in this country, it doesn't matter.

It matters in football because homophobia is rife in the men's game, whether it's insults hurled from the terraces, jokes in the pub, whispers in the dressing room, taunts on the pitch.

It matters because if you're a professional footballer who's gay - and Jake Daniels won't be the only one in this country - you're keeping a major part of your life a secret from the whole world out of fear of how people would react.

It matters because if you're a teenage boy simultaneously realising you're gay and being scouted by professional clubs, you have to make a decision - give up your career in order to love who you love, or commit to being alone or keeping all your relationships a secret in order to have a chance in your career.

It matters because it seems like once a year or more there's a big salacious article in the tabloids about some anonymous footballer who's tormented by his sexuality and the fear that people will find out, and that kind of coverage just adds to the fear and the feeling that being gay is somehow shameful.

The FA and clubs have done work to try to fight the stigma but without someone actually having a career in football whilst openly gay, it's all just words. Daniels is a canary in a mine - there'll be a lot of eyes on him to see how toxic the response to this is.

No-one should feel pressured to come out. No-one owes the public an explanation of their sexuality, and there's no shame in choosing to keep it private. But it's best for everyone if we live in a society where people feel comfortable to come out if they want to. Like someone finding out about their sexuality isn't the end of the world or the end of their career.

It's highly likely that at least one of our players, past or present, is gay. He doesn't have to tell us. But I'd like him to feel like we'd support him if he did.

 

[hammocity]

It’s a pretty big deal to the comer outer though. They don’t know if they’ll be accepted by their own family and friends.

There will always be homophobia, just like racism it’s impossible to for it not to exist. Getting more acceptance and a lesser level of abuse has been a huge breakthrough in the past 50/60 years or so.